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In today’s edition of Jets Confidential Website Whispers, we look into a sleeper in the Jets’ offense, and a lawsuit . . .
An x-factor for the Jets’ offense this year could be tight end/fullback Josh Baker.
This guy is a good football player.
He was Joe Flacco’s favorite target at Delaware before transferring to NW Missouri State.
The 6-3, 245-pound Baker runs well, and has very consistent hands.
And he’s hungry.
Right now, in the “break” between mini-camp and training camp, he is down in Texas training. He’s not from there. Baker is from the Tidewater, Virginia-area.
“Props to the Texas’ athletes training out there in this heat all summer long – I feel your pain,” Baker tweeted today.
For those who haven’t been down to Texas in the summer, it’s brutally hot this time of year.
Watching him now for a couple of years in the preseason, in practices and some games, Baker reminds me of New England’s Aaron Hernandez.
Baker’s potential could be one reason the Jets are not jumping into a lucrative Dustin Keller extension just yet . . .
The Jets and Giants are suing Canadian-builder Triple Five, for the mall developer’s plans for the vacant Xanadu retail project, next to the stadium.
Executives from Triple Five labeled the lawsuit as “frivolous” and accused the Jets and Giants of hurting New Jersey taxpayers. They also rips the team teams for preventing an influx of construction jobs into the state.
“In suing the State of New Jersey and our company, the teams have revealed they want to exert monopolistic control over the entire complex,” a company statement said. “They want to tell us when and how we can operate our business. I am sure they would not want us to tell them when they can play their football games.”
You could make a strong argument the Jets and Giants are wrong on this one. Government officials in Trenton worked hard to find a company to develop the dormant monstrosity (it wasn’t easy), and they were able to land Triple Five, in a bad economy, to get the project going.
The mayor of East Rutherford trashed the Jets and Giants for this move.
“It’s a telling sign that these two New York-based teams are throwing up legal roadblocks to an economic enterprise that will benefit thousands of people in the region,” said East Rutherford Mayor James Cassella. “They don’t want to be good neighbors. They just want to exploit New Jersey.”
With all due respect to the mayor, his argument does not totally hold up since both teams have massive training complexes in New Jersey, and obviously play their games in the state. And most of their players, coaches and staff live in the state, and pay taxes there. In many ways, they are New York teams in name only.
The rationale for the Jets and Giants suit is simple. It’s hard enough to get people to buy tickets in this economy (and with the advent of the flat-screen HD televisions), the last thing the teams need is adding to an already difficult traffic situation, and giving people another excuse not to go.
So with this litigation, it now sounds like that eyesore is going to sit there empty for years to come
Triple Five has good experience with mega-mall complexes. They own and operate the massive Mall of America in Minnesota . . .
June 27, 2012
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